Evaluation on Scientific Papers

Novel Nano-organisms from Australian Sandstone



Philippa J.R. Uwins, Richard I. Webb, and Anthony P.Taylor
Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland , St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia 4072
Department of Microbiology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia 4072

Summary:

Nanobes have cellular structures that are strikingly similar in morphology to Actinomycetes and fungi (spores, filaments, and fruiting bodies) with the exception that they are up to 10 times smaller in diameter. Nanobes show a positive reaction to three DNA stains which strongly suggests that nanobes contain DNA.

This paper describes various organic features that were observed as unusual growths on sandstone samples and other substrates. This paper also documents their morphology, elemental composition, and structural detail. Sandstone samples with observed in situ nanobe growths were used in the study. Scanning electron microscopy, Transmission elctron microscopy, Energy dipersive X-ray spectroscopy, and DAPI, Acridine Orange , and Feulgen staining for DNA were the methods used in the study.

As a result of the study, there were many properties of the nano-organisms that support their thesis that nanobes are biological structures based on the methods they have performed. The authors of the paper presented seven properties of nanobes which were results of the different methods and analyses done on the samples that will show that nanobes or nano-organisms are biological structures.

Evaluation:

There were terms in this paper that were a bit hard to understand. But, as to the organization of the contents of the study, the paper shows a clear purpose of their study which was to examine that nanobes are biological structures although the standard format for the research paper, as we have discussed in class, cannot be noticed in this paper. The methods that were used in testing their samples were presented in a way that it can be understandable by readers. After showing the techniques performed on the said samples, they also presented a brief discussion which showed their analyses on the samples. They ended the paper with a conclusion that supported their thesis. Nice thing about their conclusion is that the authors also presented the other side which was if nanobes not being biological structures. Based on their conclusion, they had properly obtained evidences on the existence of the nanobes or nano-organisms as biological structures.

Where There's Smoke, There's Mirrors: The Truth about Trojan Horses on the Internet


Sarah Gordon, David M. Chess
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, NY

Summary:

Trojan horses are programs purposefully damage a user's system upon their invocation. They almost always shoot to disable hard disks, although they can, in rare cases, destroy other equipment too. This paper examined the prevalence, technical structure and impact of non-viral malicious code ("Trojan horses") on the Internet, and its relevance to the corporate and home user.

Throughout computing history, we can find references to Trojan horses. In the late 1980's, FidoNet bulletin boards were popular places for computer users to gather and engage in various forms of communication. Files were also available for download. As users downloaded programs, they sometimes came across programs that claimed to do one thing, but which actually did another. Someone came up with the idea that it might be a good idea to document the existence of these programs and warn users. Out of this need and idea, The Dirty Dozen was born. The Dirty Dozen is a list that was established to provide warnings about the most common Trojans and bombs. The list included the filename, description of what they program is supposed to do, followed by what the program actually does. Many Trojan horses appeared which were also examined by the different anti-virus firms. Determining if a program was really a Trojan horse was a big problem.

Using user simulations and first-hand reports provided by real users focusing on the type and scope of actual Trojan threats encountered on the Internet were done in course of the study. The status of hostile active content, including Java and ActiveX, on the Internet, its impact in the real world and strategies for minimizing the risk of damage from Trojan horses on the Internet were also presented. These preventive measures presented were drawn from the results of the simulations and the reports coming from the real users were also used in the conclusion.


Evaluation:

This paper was a bit long to read since it really discussed the history of Trojan horses. But that was helpful in the sense that it introduced beforehand what really a Trojan horse was. As to the format of the paper, I think the standard format of a research paper is unnoticeable although it had the introduction and conclusion. I think the history presented was the related literature. As what I have noticed while reading the paper, if you’ll not read the whole content of the paper, you will not know what were the methods used and where in the paper can you actually see those things. Unlike the previous paper I have read, you can easily recognize the organization of the information presented. Some parts of the paper were also not that clear. I think it’s because of the different titles the author put which, if a reader will not actually read and understand that part of the paper, the reader will not know the relevance or the connection of the title to the content. But, as to the information presented, I think the study was helpful for victims of the Trojan horses as well as its future victims.

An Environment for Controlled Worm Replication and Analysis
or: Internet-inna-Box


Ian Whalley
Bill Arnold, David Chess, John Morar, Alla Segal, Morton Swimmer
IBM TJ Watson Research Center, PO Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

Summary:

A worm is a program that distributes multiple copies of itself within a system or across a distributed system. In order to understand the requirements of a worm replication system, the author presented a brief history of worms and its properties.

So-called 'worms' have been a feature of the malware landscape since the beginning, and yet have been largely ignored by anti-virus companies until comparatively recently. However, the near-complete connectivity of computers in today's western world, coupled with the largely Win32-centric base of installed operating systems make the rise of worms inevitable.

The author described techniques and mechanisms for constructing and utilizing an environment enabling the automatic examination of worms and network-aware viruses. The paper is not intended to be a discussion of the Immune System concept. Instead, the intent is to describe an approach that has been applied to the problem with some measure of success.

The approach involves building a virtual SOHO network, which is in turn connected to a virtual Internet. Both the virtual LAN and WAN are populated with virtual machines. The suspected worm is introduced into this environment, and executed therein. The whole system is closely monitored as execution progresses in the isolated environment, and data is amassed describing what the suspected worm did as it executed. This data is then processed by the system in an attempt to automatically determine whether or not the suspect programming is performing actions indicative of a worm or internet-aware malware. In this paper, an outline of a functional prototype of a worm replication system was also presented.


Evaluation:

I think, if I’ not mistaken, this paper is a good example of a technical research. This paper introduced a way of controlling worm replication on networks. Although the author admitted that the development of this study is not either at, or nearly at, I think this paper is really a good start for people to develop one like this. I was not bored reading this paper although it was long enough. The author presented different things in relation to the study but everything was done concisely. The manner of the discussion in each section was direct to the point. As to the format of the paper, I think the standard format I’ve known was still not noticeable just like the other papers I’ve read. Considering the organization of data in the paper, everything was clear because every section of the paper was properly presented. Everything was concise but still understandable for me. To sum up, the sections of the paper was concisely arranged but in a way that it can easily be understood by readers.